will they fly again

For the full story on the HHA Bucc have a look at the Air Scene UK website. It is a well written article which highlights to all the pain, the frustration and the expense that has been involved in getting the Bucc to this stage.

Many thanks, like you say working condition is better than rotting away, its a happy medium.
As for a billionaire buying a shed load of these lovely old classics, it would have to be a small shed, there arent many left 😉

Please come along on the 8th you wont be dissapointed

Oh and here’s a couple of shots for you from my album’s, as you never witnessed them flying,
Binbrook’s last,last Lightning show, boy did it rain !
But it was worth the wet ‘trollies’

I love this shot it sums the day up

Andy B

Wow, got anymore of these, mine are all on slides and I am not able to show them on here.
What got me was that, refering to the second picture, me and my pal were standing next to the bloke on the stepladder and I can clearly make out Micks face, his first and last airshow!! I think that I’m the one to the right of him near the brolly.
What a show, any pics of that awesome take off.

Do you have a picture of that Wessex Boy? We heard many rumours from people that it did, but we were blissfully unaware of it. Our Captain Wing Commander (Rtd) Barry Neil said he had it on the ground!

As for flying her again, it depends. Unfortunatly, although everything works and we have kept corrosion at bay etc we don’t have the piece of paper to say that she can fly. We have had qualified engineers say she is quite fit to fly, all it needs is the same as anything…..money! To be honest it won’t happen again, we need all the money we can get just to keep her going in the condition she is!

I think other people who run aircraft will agree, it is the best way to keep them preserved as constant ground power and running keeps all the moisture away, a ground earth lead also helps enourmously!

Ollie

Whats happening too the Bucc at BOH?

James

I saw Daylight under lusty Lindy’s Nosewheel at Elvington last year…… 😉

Binbrook’s last,last Lightning show, boy did it rain !
But it was worth the wet ‘trollies’
Andy B

Mr B, your not kidding, it was probably on a par with how wet our team got moving Mr Landon’s Bucc out of Cornwall last year!! 😮

Just keep a close eye on the situation at Scampton, things are quite at the moment and as always with any project of this nature, the owners keep things close to their chest and quite rightly so. All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

you are all doing a great job well done,it is a bit upsetting as i have never had the privelige of seeing a lightning in the air..but in working condition is better then just rusting away in a museum..but im so happy about the bucc,it is one of my favorite aircraft of all time..i really cant wait to see one flying again….as you said like everything these days money is the biggest problem in getting these fantastic old classics airborne again.lets hope 1 day some multi billionaire will buy a shed load of these aircraft and fly them…..
keep up the good work.

Many thanks, like you say working condition is better than rotting away, its a happy medium.
As for a billionaire buying a shed load of these lovely old classics, it would have to be a small shed, there arent many left 😉

Please come along on the 8th you wont be dissapointed

Oh and here’s a couple of shots for you from my album’s, as you never witnessed them flying,
Binbrook’s last,last Lightning show, boy did it rain !
But it was worth the wet ‘trollies’

I love this shot it sums the day up

Andy B

you are all doing a great job well done,it is a bit upsetting as i have never had the privelige of seeing a lightning in the air..but in working condition is better then just rusting away in a museum..but im so happy about the bucc,it is one of my favorite aircraft of all time..i really cant wait to see one flying again….as you said like everything these days money is the biggest problem in getting these fantastic old classics airborne again.lets hope 1 day some multi billionaire will buy a shed load of these aircraft and fly them…..
keep up the good work.

As this topic has been covered before I sharnt go on about it but to see a Lightning fly you will need to go to Cape Town, or maybe one day the States where the AALO are rebuilding XS422, like all these things its time and shed loads of money. (XH558 being a good example)
Maybe MJR might want to add something in here about 422 ?

I very much doubt you will see a Lightning fly in the UK again.
Please dont get upset with me when I say, the likes of Lightnings flying in the UK is a thing of the past, theyve had their day, we who witnessed them flying in service were lucky, but its over, this is one of the reasons we 12 guys who own 728 and 904 do what we do, just keeping the memory alive in an affordable and safe way.
I must add here that when we brought 728 back in June 1988 we had no intentions running her at all, that just happened along the way, the last 18 years has been a bonus for all of us who have played a part in it and for all the members of the public who have attended our open days who never thought they would see a Lightning move again under it own ‘steam’ again.

I cant speak for the other owners of Lightnings in the UK but we the LPG have no intentions of going anywhere near flight with our two, we will just keep them gound runnable for as long as possible, then retire then to the QRA hanger.

As costs of insurance and fuel for even fast taxing have seriously sprialed upwards in the last couple of years it may not be that long before we say enough’s, enough.

Come along to Brunty on the 8th July and savour the atmosphere.

As for Victors, well I can safely speak for the Brunty one, there are no plans to do anything but keep it ground runnable for the same reasons as our two Lightnings.

Good luck to the guys at HAA with the Bucc 🙂
Cheers
Andy B (LPG)

Yes the Bucc will fly again once HHA have completed the agreed work on XX885, see the link below for more details.

http://hunterteam.com/news.htm

I doubt a Lightning or Victor will ever fly again in the UK, there are a few Lightnings flying in South Africa and one is under rebuild to fly in America.

scimatar

These topics have been well covered here in numerous threads over the years. Try doing a few searches 🙂 – however it is looking increasing likely that a bucc will take to the air in the uk soon.

richb